Who was around for Bowman Vs Topps?

[dougscats]

I really started collecting as the Bowmans died out. But I had my brother's cards and played with them.
The Bowmans had two major flaws:

The Bowmans/card size [there are slight but perhaps crucial differences] were made of flimsier cardboard, and they easily bent in the middle. As kids played more with the cards in those days, this was a serious and chronic ['53-55] short-coming.

The console-TV border on the '55 Bowman was an artistic disaster of Edsel proportions.

That being said, the '51-52 Bowmans are one of my favorites, and the '53's are generally admired for their photography and spectacular color.

Ironically, after Topps won, they down-sized their cards, which became the standard size for more than 50 years now. I like the bigger cards myself.

That's what I remember.

Doug